The Mind Of Chris Cenac Jr. — 11 pm Workouts, a Big Obsessed With the Game and a Houston Mission Beyond Scoring

OKLAHOMA CITY — Chris Cenac Jr. had been traveling all day, enduring flight delays and travel headaches. So Link Academy coach Chad Myers figured the basketball prodigy would want to rest, maybe get something to eat, try and relax. But that’s not how Myers’ first meeting with a teenage Cenac went.

“It’s like 11:15 at night, his flight was running way behind, and one of the first things he asked me is if he could go to the gym,” Myers tells PaperCity with a laugh. “He wanted to get up a hundred something shots before he did anything else.

“Chris is just different.”

Myers is driving to Oklahoma City as he tells this story, going to see one of his favorite basketball obsessives play in the NCAA Tournament for Houston against Texas A&M (5:10 pm Sunday tip, TNT). Chris Cenac’s first NCAA Tournament game turned into an 18-rebound master class with the 6-foot-11 freshman having grabbed his 12th board before he took his second shot of the game. Myers coached Cenac last season at Link, the elite basketball academy and prep school just outside of Branson, Missouri that’s quickly attracted some of the best high school players in the country. It is a relatively isolated environment (there aren’t many teenage hoopers dying to see Dolly Parton’s Stampede or any of the other theater shows Branson is known for), which made it perfect for a player who thinks of basketball first, last and foremost.

“Chris is one of those kids that’s consumed by basketball,” UH assistant coach Kellen Sampson tells PaperCity. “Sometimes big kids especially, they play because they’re tall. They don’t really have a love affair with the game, they’re just — if they were 6-2, their passion would take them somewhere else.

“Chris is one of those guys that if was 6-2, he’d still be consumed with basketball. And he would find a way to be a good player. Still.”

Chris Cenac’s play will go a long way towards determining how far Kelvin Sampson’s younger, more purely talented Houston team goes in this NCAA Tournament. Cenac knows his rebounding is key, that him being one of the top rebounders in the Big Dance will help push his guys along and keep his college career going longer.

“I feel like that’s something different,” Cenac tells PaperCity. “Not a lot of people rebound like that. Just finding ways to be different. Everyone can score the ball. . . I definitely take pride in it. That’s just something different. Nobody really rebounds. So I just try to find ways to be different than most players. That’s something the team needs me to do. That’s something I’m pretty good at.

“So why not go out there and have 18, 20 rebounds if I can.”

“Chris is one of those kids that’s consumed by basketball. Sometimes big kids especially, they play because they’re tall. They don’t really have a love affair with the game, they’re just — if they were 6-2, their passion would take them somewhere else. Chris is one of those guys that if was 6-2, he’d still be consumed with basketball.” — UH assistant Kellen Sampson

As talented as Cenac as — and being 6-foot-11 with a 7-foot-5 wingspan and a good shooting touch opens up a world of possibilities — this is a 19-year-old who also thinks the game. He understands what teams are trying to do, sees the chess of the game rather than just checkers.

“I think that’s maybe one of the most underrated parts about Chris — just his overall intelligence,” Kellen Sampson says. “That is a sharp, smart, intellectual young person. And to recognize when he walked into the room that I can do something that maybe this group lacks — yes, I’m immensely talented in some other areas — but I’ve got a chance to definitively check a box for this team.

“A). His talent to do it, but B). his willingness to run to that fight is a huge storyline for why this team’s been successful, And if we’re fortunate enough to keep playing, why it will continue to be successful.”

For the Cenacs, Work Is All In the Family

Cenac traces his love of work back to seeing his parents Sharita and Chris Cenac Sr. always working. Chris Cenac Sr. owns a plumbing company, does real estate and dabbles in a few other businesses. Sharita Cenac works in the events and entertainment world, specializing in festivals, and runs a couple of businesses.

“When I grew up, I always saw my parents’ work ethic,” Chris Cenac Jr. says. “My dad’s working all day. My mom’s working all day. So I just grew up with that in me.”

Chris Cenac Sr. is a big, well-built guy, something of an imposing presence himself. He’ll tell you he didn’t have to get on his son too much as a kid though. Chris Cenac Jr. never lacked motivation. He always gravitated to demanding environments, from the elite Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans where he shared the hallways with Arch Manning for a semester before the star quarterback enrolled early at the University of Texas in January 2023, to Link Academy and its roster stacked with future college standouts. To UH and Kelvin Sampson’s demanding (and proven) developmental program.

“It’s good to see,” Chris Cenac Sr. says of the growth of his son’s game this season at Houston. “Just how determined he is to get better. He’s somebody who lives in the gym and soaks up every game. And kind of critiques himself. Whatever he needs to work on to get better, he’ll get in there and work on it.

“He’s extremely determined.”

When Chris Cenac Jr. received the honor (18 rebounds can do that) of slapping Houston’s name forward in the bracket on the big board in Oklahoma City, he did it with an enthusiasm, followed by the type of dance moves that only a nimble near 7-footer can pull off. His basketball joy is real. When Cenac talks about his time at Link Academy, his eyes light up at one simple geographical feature. And it isn’t Branson’s Talking Rocks Cavern.

“It was probably a two, three minute walk to the gym,” Cenac says of the dorm’s proximity to his favorite lab. “So I was in there every day. Any time I had free time, I was in there again, getting work in.”

Cenac’s been following his former Link teammates in the NCAA Tournament. He enjoyed the poster dunk Amare Bynum threw down for Ohio State in its loss to TCU. In many ways, this season in the Sampson program’s development lab is this McDonald’s All-American’s graduate level work.

“We take basketball seriously,” Link coach Chad Myers says. “And Houston takes basketball very seriously. That’s a good fit for Chris.”

Cenac chose to go somewhere he would be pushed to work even harder, knowing Kelvin Sampson would never let him coast. He’s averaged 9.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game for the season, essentially starting every game (he came off the bench on Senior Night so that all the seniors could start) for one of the five best teams in America. But this season was never about numbers to Chris Cenac. It is about improvement, getting more ready. Those fans hopefully urging Cenac to come back to Houston next season are largely completely ignorant of the realities of the NBA drafting on potential and how important it is for players to start the countdown to the end of their rookie contracts.

UH PG Kingston Flemings to @PaperCityMag on Chris Cenac Jr. grabbing 18 boards in NCAA Tourney debut: “He’s a dog..Some of them, I’m right there too but I can’t get it because there’s a higher level he can get to. The 18 is crazy. Only 24 minutes too. So that’s crazy efficiency.” pic.twitter.com/Z3GoYVchjX

— Chris Baldwin (@ChrisYBaldwin) March 20, 2026

“Nobody’s been a bigger Chris Cenac Jr. fan than me,” ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla tells PaperCity. “When I saw Chris early in the year and realized he chose Houston to be coached hard, it told me a lot about the young man’s character. And right now when you’re talking 6-foot-11, 7-5 wingspan, just turned 19, some shooting touch, But really he’s going to be known early in his career as a rebounder.

“I think as long as Chris takes the work ethic with him to the NBA that he learned this year under Kelvin and his staff, he’s going to be a terrific young player. You’ll see Chris Cenac blossom in his mid twenties.”

He’s determined to have an NCAA Tournament to remember first with his guys. Eighteen rebounds is a good start. But Chris Cenac wants to stick around for a good while.